Monday, September 21, 2015

A Revised Thief Class for B/X or LL

I
should know better than to tamper with the core classes. By no means
are they platonic ideals but the unbalanced, moldy old D&D classes seem to somehow balance in the mix of a party. And pragmatic me notices that they work more often than not.

But...

I
don't really like the pitifulness of the B/X version of the Thief.
There's just something about that d4 hit die and being not all that
much better at things thievish at lower levels than your party mates,
that doesn't line up with the rose-tints of my AD&D memory with
its ballsier thieves.

Anywho
here's a not particularly earth-shattering (but perhaps sweet spot
hitting) revision of the class that synthesizes elements of the first
and second edition AD&D thief with the d6 skill elegance of
Lamentations's Specialist. As always eager to hear from fellow
gear-heads about if you'd think this works or not.

Comparison to B/X or LL
Thief

Moves to the 16 percent
jumps of a d6, which produces a bit less skill at first level. Climb Walls
take a bigger hit to put it in accord with starting second ed levels.

Gains skill in larger
jumps per level. A second level B/X Thief gains roughly 20 percent
scattered across skills, this thief bumps up 32 percent with the two
+1 d6 modifiers.

Trades in the incremental
across-board bumps of the B/X Thief for the focused choice of the
second edition Thief.

Gets the d6 hit die of
AD&D.

Collapses Hide in Shadows
with Move Quietly into Stealth

Starts reading MU scrolls
at less of a chance of success but a level earlier.

Thief

Requirements: None

Prime Req: DEX

Hit Dice: d6

Maximum Level: None

You know what this class
is about. Read Leiber.

The Thief can not be in favor of the
combination of order and weal as an alignment. She/he also knows Thieves Cant, an argot of the local language.

The Thief can wear leather
or padded armor and use any weapon (but not a shield). When attacking
while hidden by Stealth behind or on the flank of a creature, the
Thief may backstab at +4 to hit and double damage. At 11th
level the Thief can backstab at triple damage.

All Thief skill rolls are
made on a d6. A skill check is successful if it is at or lower than
the skill roll. At each new level past first, the thief can
distribute points to a skill as they choose. A skill may be not go
higher than 6. The GM should decrease or increase the chance of
success for easier or more difficult tasks. Skill descriptions are
the same as btb with the exception of Stealth which covers both Hide
in Shadows and Move Silently.

At level 9, the Thief
becomes name level and gains name level things. At level 9 they can
also begin to use Magic User scrolls.

2 comments:

I like this. My thief player likes this (well the skill system anyway). I'm playing Swords & Wizardry and the player likes his backstabbing (and I like that he doesn't have a lot of hp!). We're going to try retconning the skills system onto his character sheet and see how it goes.

I really like this. I also love everything about the Lamentations class except for the name. (Reminds me too much of my corporate days.... everyone was a specialist or analyst or associate...) Not sure what I'd replace it with, but ultimately not important.

Anyway, I dig on your thief, and might give it a try next time I run B/X or Swords & Wizardry.